ALISE Gender SIG program 

Title – Gender Research and Its Role in Understanding the Community of Library Users

Moderator – Kay Cassell, Assistant Professor, SCILS, Rutgers University, 4 Huntington Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901,  phone - (917) 921-2730, email - [email protected]

Presenters – 

1) Lynn Westbrook, Assistant Professor, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, Station 1 D7000, Austin, TX 78712-0390,  phone – (512) 232-7831, email – [email protected]

Paper Title:  “I left with my clothes and my laptop”:  Information issues of domestic violence survivors

Abstract:

The information experiences of people in crisis demand nuanced, integrated information services.  Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) face crisis and often live in an irregular flow of crises.  Effective service interventions and infrastructure development require understanding their information contexts, resources, experiences, preferences, and needs from situation to situation.  E-governments at both the local and state levels provide some resources but lack most of the fundamentals.  Public librarians provide useful information but with little implementation of affective supports and virtually no awareness of cyber-safety concerns.  IPV survivors’ mental models of the escape process often entail several inaccuracies regarding information components.  The privacy and social support of network of an online bulletin board is used for affective, cognitive and behavioral support by IPV survivors.  This paper highlights key findings of several studies on these issues in the complex environment of IPV survivors.

Mini abstract:

Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) face crisis and require understanding their information contexts, resources, experiences, preferences and needs.  This paper highlights key findings of several studies on these issues.

2) Ann Bishop, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 501 E. Daniel, Champaign, IL 61820, phone - (217) 244-3299, email – [email protected]

Paper Title: Identifying and Developing the Role and Use of Digital Media in the Lives of Girls and Women

Mini Abstract:  Experiences from a community informatics project has provided a way to identify and develop a better knowledge of the role and use of digital media in the lives of girls and women in marginalized, low income communities.

3) Elena Prigoda,  Librarian, Gerstein Science Information Center, University of Toronto,  9 King’s College Circle, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A5, phone – (416) 946-5759, email – [email protected]

Paper Title:  Purls of wisdom:  A collectivist study of human information behavior in a public library knitting group

Abstract:

This study provides an example of how programs in public libraries can provide opportunities for information behavior and the construction of meaning for members of the community.  The authors applied a collectivist theoretical framework to the study of human information behavior and construction of meaning in a knitting group held in a branch of a large Canadian (Ontario) public library. The research was naturalistic and consisted of active participant observation of five knitting group sessions and semi-structured interviews with 12 group members.  Field notes were taken, and both observations and interviews were audio taped and transcribed. Field notes and transcripts were coded qualitatively. The research findings suggest that information practices and contextual factors are mutually constitutive.  The location of the circle in a public library, the physical characteristics of the act of knitting, and the caring, are integrally linked to human information behavior in this setting.  A discussion of how this research contributes to the study of library as place is also included.

Mini Abstract: 

This collectivist study explores how public library programming, specifically a public library knitting group, can provide opportunities for information behavior and the construction of meaning for members of the community. 

4) Kay Cassell, Assistant Professor, SCILS, Rutgers University, 4 Huntington Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, phone – (917) 921-2730, email – [email protected]

Paper Title:  Women’s programming in public libraries

Abstract:

Updating research done in 1980, Kay Cassell and her co-author, Kathleen Weibel, surveyed the current status of programming for women in public libraries, concentrating on the largest U.S. public libraries. The designation of National Women’s History Month was assumed to provide a legitimizing factor that libraries could use to develop women’s programming. Many libraries have indeed developed programming for women during National Women’s History Month, but many more have planned women’s programming as part of their regular offering of programs. Women’s programming has been strengthened by a greater visibility of the diverse needs and interests of women, funding for programs for women, and greatly expanded publishing activity that continually provides new titles on women’s issues for public library collections. Women themselves have been a catalyst for programming as they have been avid users of public libraries and often the primary audience for library programs. Although librarians seem reluctant to identify their target audience by gender, they continue to develop programming that attracts more women than men. 

Mini Abstract: